Wood-wind and like musical instrument



Sept. 27, 1927.

J. w. M AvoY wooD WIND AND LIKE MUSIQAL INSTRUMENT Filed Feb. 17. 1926 Patented Sept. 27, 1927.

UNITED STATES JOHN WILLIAM MGAVOY, 0F BANGOR, NORTH WALES.

woon-wnvn AND LIKE MosIcAL INSTRUMENT.

Application filed February 17, 1926, Serial No. 88,896, and in Great Britain April 3, 1925.

This invention relates to woodwind and like instruments such as flutes, oboes, bassoons, saxophones, and other instruments which comprise a wind channel provided with tone-holes adaptedto be closed by pads carried on levers operated by the players fingers.

In such an instrument, the number of toneholes and consequently of pad levers, exceeds that of the fingers available and some fingers have therefore to control more than one pad lever. This is done in various Ways, as by changing the position of the fingers as necessary, by coupling two or more pad levers directly or otherwise, the coupled levers working together by long levers to control the distant holes directly or by couplings, and/or by duplicate holes and/or levers.

A disadvantage of these methods, as usually applied, is that the simplest fingering is based on some one major diatonic' scale, all other scales requiring less or greater departure from the simplefingering. Insome cases it is found convenient to use two or more instruments with the same fingerings, but of different pitches, to meet the difiiculties which arise in playing in all keys on a single instrument, and the music requires to be written to correspondwith the pitch of the instrument employed;

Other disadvantages are that full control of certain levers is lost whenthe fingers concerned are required for operating other levers, movement of a finger from lever to leveinhampers'the facility of execution, independent action of some levers is impossible, certain sequences of notes are impracticable in fairly quicktime, there is some loss of tone, the work of the fingers is very unevenly distributed, and transposition "of music to a pitch other than that'writte'n for, is difficult.

The main objects of my invention are:-

1. To provide means by which the higher holes can be held closed when the fingers are required for the individual control of the lower holes, the higher holes becoming in their turn, subject to individual control when the collective action on them is withdrawn.

This allows of th'e 'ado p'tionof a simple and regularchromatic fingering so that, for example, any series of eight consecutive holes in an instrument for which-all eight fingers aret'o be used for the said control of the tone holes) shall be controlled each by a different finger, and requires that each of the higher holes abovehanied be provided with control by a' pad-carrying lever operated to close the hole against the tension of a spring, and that at least one multiple control lever be fitted to be'brought intense as required for the simultaneous actuation of the levers governing the said higher holes. 2. To provide the said-means in such manner that a piece of music written, say in the key of C, can be played, without material change of the fingerings for the written notes,as if written-in the key of D fiatfot B, or at soinestill higher or lower pitch.

This requires firstly, that certain of the pad levers be provided with control from two points, only one of which is used in any one position of the hands for playing, secondly, that the finger contacts 'for' the individual controls be placed in at leasttwo series or manuals the contacts in' each manual being in the same order and relative positions as their respectiveassociated holes (this arrangement of the contactsbeing also preferable for object (1),), thirdly, that the multiple control levers shall each bepro videdwith means forad-justn'ient so as to vary their control according-to what particular' individual control flevers are to be actuated; and fourthly, that all the holes b closed only by pad-carrying levers. According to the inventioh," after each tone-hole which so requireshas been provided in any customary mannerwith' individual and independent control by apad carrying lever (normallyelf-standing), and any'h ole which so requires provided with a second point of control so being controllable from two points) and thefinger contacts arranged so as to allow of the chromatic fingering earlier described, one'ormore multiple con? trol levers, hereafter P called bar levers, is/are fitted i11"-a1'iy'convenient manner to the body of the instrument,"and' each such bar lever is adapted for actuation toengage directly with, and operate together, those levers which "individually oontrol a series of 1 consecutive holes, to close those holes the bar levers are held normallyiiiror-l-l-outof action by springs.- ii "Contact between bar lever and opposing levers'is director by adjusting screws,and, in the case of" an instrument required to" be available for the transposition described","one

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or more of such adjusting screws is made so as to be withdrawable so tar that no such control can be hador the same result is obtained by having the bar lever fitted with one or more movable arms which can be turned into or out of cont-act with the arms of the opposing levers. One bar lever may be fitted to operate another. A special lever may be fitted to prevent two bar levers being depressed at the same time. No bar lever is constructed or placed so as to, be necessarily operated in or by the closing or opening of any hole except in the manner indicated and illustrated.

The invention may be applied to instruments varying in shapes, sizes, number of tone holes, number of fingers to be used, and by its means any instrument can, if required, be made available for the transposition de scribed. It is necessary however, that the pad levers be controlled as described independently. and for the full benefit of the invention, that the finger contacts for the operation of the pad levers be arranged as indicated, in regular manuals.

It will be sufficient to describe the, invention in its particular application to one form of instrument only.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the invention, applied to a. fiute with 16 holes which are intended to be controlled by eight fingers and the left thumb.

Fig. lis a diagrammatic plan of the lower part'of the flute, the tone holes being arranged in a straight line for clearness, and the control levers, with their attendant parts, being shown in the flat for facility of explanation. Holes such vent holes and duplicate holes are not shown, their control not affecting or being affected by any of the levers here described.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional elevation on the line 2, 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional elevation on the line 3, 3, of Fig. 1.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are plans of modified forms of bar lever, and Fig. 7, is a plan of a detail part hereinafter described.

-Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, a is the tubular body of the flute which has 16 tone-holes, and 16 pad levers, each such lever, and any combination, of any operating lever with a pad lever, working independently of every and controlling one hole and no more. The holes and pad levers are, for ease of explanation, numbered 1 to 16 from the lower end a of the instrument, that is, the end furthest from the mouth-hole.

As will be seen pad levers 1 to e (inclusive) are pivoted on an axle 5 carried in bearings Z) and are coupled to extensions 0 pivoted on the same axle and arranged in the order shown with their free ends respectively adjacentthe pad levers 9, 10, 11, 12. Pad levers 5 to 12 (inclusive) are pivoted on an axle (Z carried in bearings (L Pad levers 13 to 16 (inclusive) are pivoted on an axle 6 carried in bearings c and coupled to auxiliary levers, or extensions f, also pivoted on the axle c and arranged in the order shown, with their free ends respectively adjacent to the pat levers, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

The couplings shown (extensions) may be used; if auxiliary lovers are used in place of any such extensions each engages directly with, and directly operates, one pad lever,

and has no further action of any kind.

Pad levers 5 to 8 (inclusive) with the auxiliary-levers or extensions f are to be operated by the players right fingers, and pad levers 9 to 12 (inclusive) with the auxiliary levers or extensions 0 are to be operated by the players left fingers; in all cases the operating arms agree respectively in order and relative position with their associated holes and fingers.

To complete the control described, the invention is applied, and consists in the addition of the three bar levers g, h and 2', g and it placed on one side, and i on the other side, of the line of holes. Each bar lever comprises a bar portion lying lengthwise withthe axis ot..the instrument, and an angular portion at each end pivoted to pillars or brackets j, on the body of the instrument.

The bar levers g and 7b are mounted on a common axis. The bar lever h on one side of the line of holes lies over pad levers 912, so that when depressed by a finger piece extension h at one end, said pad levers are all depressed. thereby leaving the left hand lingers free to operate the adjacent arms 0 and control holes 1., 2, 3 and 4; without restraint. The longer bar lever g on the same side of the line of holes lies over the shorter one h and continuous over pad levers 58, so that on its being depressed all the holes 512 inclusive are closed and at least seven fingers are set free. Bar levers g and h are normally held out of action, i. e. in the raised position, by suitable springs, suitable stops 0 (Fig. 2) limiting the extent of their rise.

For the purpose of illustration bar lever i is shown as placed under the arms of levers f and on the other side of the axle from their tree arms. and by a strong spring is normally kept pressed against those levers sh as to close holes 13,14,15 and 16. This lever has finger pieces 71 and i for control by the leftthumb and/or the right index finger, and, when by pressure on these extensions the action of the bar lever is taken off lever f, the free ends of f and their connected pad levers, rise and the holes 18, 14:, 15 and 16 can then be'closed by finger action as in other cases.

As illustrated in Fig. 2 each pad lever is adapted to be raised clear of the hole by a small spring is. The spring shown is of the till and may be adjusted to vary, or equalize the pressure otthe bar lever on the opposing levers, any such screw may, for the purpose of transposition described later, be withdrawn so farthat there can be no contact between the bar lever and the opposing lever concerned.

In the case of bar lever (as illustrated), a strong spring is provided to keep the lever normally in the raised position, that is, in action. The lever may however, be constructed to be put into action similarly to h or g, the axle being placed intermed-ia-tely of the controlling arm and the arm/arms engaging the opposing levers, or in any other suitable posit-ion.

In Figs. t and 5 two alternative forms of bar lever are shown.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 6, the bar lever, instead of being of rigid form as previously described, is provided with arms 771. preferably of resilient material, any of which may be pivoted so as to be movable into or out of the path of the opposing levers, for purposes of'transposition.

It is desirable that the lever i (as illustrated) be not depressed at the same time with h or g and to attain this end a small rocking lever n see Fig. 7) may be provided,

having an arm on each side of its axle, one arm placed under and engaging lever 71 and the other arm placed under and engaging lever h. i l

The bar levers may of course. be operated at any point in their length and not only by extensions.

If desired the bar levers may be pivoted at points other than their ends, and any'bar lever may be constructed to be operable from any convenient position by a finger contact piece. A fourth lever may be added when required for extending the range of opera tion of the invention in an upward direction.

The bar levers also make possible the adoption of the regular fingering on a chromatic basis for the whole range of fundamental notes. The finger contacts for the individual controls are laid out in straightsequences, and the action of the fingers on them follows accordingly, that is, one at a time to produce the chromatic scale, For other scales the progression of finger movements varies only with the mode of the scale (major, minor, whole tone, pentatonic, &c) and not with the key, so that all scales in any one mode, being constrneted alike, are produced by the same progression of finger action. The tone holes can be placed "in scuring: ofi'thepurityof tone, caused when a closed. hole lies below an open hole, is

avoided, fork or. cross. fingering. being unnecessary except on the very. highest notes which cannot be fingered on the strict chromatic: basis. Execution is rendered easier, all strong springs can be elin'iinated, and where any-isused; as on lever i, it is opposed by a strong fingeror a thumb. All sequences of notes are playable in quick time, and:t.he composeris freed from the necessity of avoiding certain shakes, turns, and other sequences because of their impracti Pability; he. is, further, not required to vary his written pitch for clarinet music because of any difiiculties in execution,nor to write music, say for a G (bass) flute at any but its proper pitch. On the other hand if the. composer wishes. to make the reading of" a. piece of. music easier. for the player, he is at liberty to do so by transposing the written music a semitone higher or lower, making a suitable recordthereof, and the player can adjust hisv instrument and the position of his hands accord-ingl-y, the actual pitch produced beingthe correct one. Thus a complicated passage in key of B or D flat can be written in G and many writ-ten flats and sharps, double flats and double sharps, avoided without the ne cessity for the player having to use a second instrument.

The systems of fingering and transposition, and the bar levers described, which make these systems possible, are applicable to all instruments ofthe type of flutes, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, Saxophones, and'so on, and it is therefore not necessary fora player to change his system of; fingering in passing from one kind to another.

The construction of instruments according to the invention is simple, there being no clutches, overlapping arms or projections of levers, intermediate levers, rings, cams, springs, cranks, chain connections, or other such contrivance, to combine the action of one pad lever with that of another, and all duplicates holes, double holes, and assistant holes, with their control mechanism, are rendered unnecessary.

What I claim is lfIn a wood wind or like musical instrument having a Wind channel provided with tone holes, the combination with said channel of independentlevers, suitably mounted on the channel, pads attachedto some of said iev-ers and being each so'placed that the depression the'pad and lever closes one of the tone holes, means connecting some of said pads and levers'to other of said levers not liaving pads, to effect distant control of tone holes, springs suitably'fixed to keep the levers in tli'ra Pos a le, 9 series or consecutive "tone holes commencing wi h that nearest the in'o'ut h e', being thus multiple closing lever and the independent levers beneath it, substantially as described.

2. In a wood-wind or like musical instrument having a wind channel provided with tone holes, the combination with said channel of independent levers, suitably mounted on the tube, pad attached to some of said levers and being each so placed that the depression of the pad and lever closes one of the tone-holes, other of the pad-carrying levers being for their distant operation each connected with one of the levers not carrying pads, springs, suitably fixed to keep the pad-carrying arms in the raised position, each tone-hole being thus provided with an independent control, and no one of the levers named having effect on more than one hold, and for the multiple closing of certain of said holes, at least one additional multiple or bar lever, pivoted on the channel and having an arm or arms so placed that when the lever is in action it directly operates those levers which are fitted for the independent control of a series of consecutive holes, included in a series of consecutive holes which commences with the highest hole, to close the holes associated with those levers, a spring for each such multiple closing lever, so placed as normally to keep the lever in the raised position, and adjustable removable means contacting between the multiple closing lever and the independent levers, beneath it substantially as described.

3. In a wood-wind or like musical instrument having a wind channel provided with tone holes, the combination wit-h the channel of independent levers carrying pads for closing the tone-holes, springs normally holding the pad levers open means for the independent operation of each of said levers, each tone hole being controlled in this manner, at least one multiple closing lever, each adapted for the direct and simultaneous op eration of a plurality of the independent control levers to close a similar plurality of consecutive holes removable adjustable means contacting between the multiple closing lever and the independent levers beneath it, the arrangement in at last two series of tone holes of the control arms, which are directly engaged by the fingers for the individual closing of the holes, being such that the control arms for a section ot'consecutive holes to any desired number, commencing at the lowest hole are placed in a line, in the same order and relative positions as their respective holes and so that any one is operable by a finger other than that which operates the next one, a similar arrangement of control arms serving for the section of consecutive holes to any desired number commencing at the highest hole, any third series of control arms governing all or a plurality in consecutive series of the remaining holes, and as many as desired ot' the next consecutive holes already having control in the first and/or second series, the'order and positions of the control arms, with respect to their associated holes and the fingers, being similar to those for the first and second series, substantially as described.

4. In a wood-wind or like musical instrument having a wind channel provided with tone holes, the combination with the channel of levers adapted for the independent closing. of tone holes, a spring for the pad lever of each hole included in. a consecutive series commencing with that nearest the mouth-hole, at least one multiple closing lever, each adapted to operate directly a plurality ol' the individual control levers to close a series of consecutive holes included in the first named series, finger contact arms for the control of said multiple closing levers by the fingers or thumbs and removable adjusting screw means between each multiple closing lever and the lever beneath it substantially as described.

5. In a wood-wind or like musical instru ment, having a wind channel provided with tone holes, the combination with the channel of levers adapted for the independent closing of the tone holes, a spring for the pad lever of each hole included in a consecutive series commencing with that nearest the mouth-hole, at least one multiple closing lever, each adapted to operate directly :1 plurality of the individual control levers to close a series of consecutive holes of the first named series, finger contact pieces for the control of said multiple closing levers by the fingers or thumbs, at least one of said multiple closing levers having arms at least one of said arms being pivoted and capable of being moved into or out of the path of the opposing independent control lever so as to bring that lever into or leave it out of the op eration of a multiple closing lever, substantially as described.

6. In a wood-wind or like musical instrument, having a wind channel provided with tone holes,the combination with the channel of levers adapted for the independent closing of the tone holes a spring for the pad lever of each hole included in a consecutive series of tone-holes commencing with that nearest the mouth-hole, a multiple clos ing lever, a spring to normally keep said lever in action and said lever being adapted to operate directly a plurality of the individual control levers to close a series of consecutive holes commencing at the same hole With the first named series, one or more further multiple closing levers, spring means to keep said levers normally out of action for the similar closing of the remaining holes of the first named series, finger contacts for said multiple closing levers, and means pivoted on the channel to prevent the depression of the first named multiple lever at the same time with either of the other multiple closing levers, substantially as described.

name to this specification.

J. W. McAVOY. 

